


Melancholy

by VikingShadows



Series: Rick Riordan Worlds [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Other, after BoO
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-08
Updated: 2015-01-08
Packaged: 2018-03-06 16:47:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3141638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VikingShadows/pseuds/VikingShadows
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nico is avoiding Jason, and Jason asks Piper to help him find him.<br/>When Piper finds Nico near the strawberry fields of camp halfblood, she gets to know him just a little bit better.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Melancholy

**Author's Note:**

> \- Takes place after Blood of Olympus, can contain spoilers.  
> \- This is a fanfic about Piper and Nico bonding as friends, I really like the idea of their friendship.  
> \- I don't know if I'll make any additional chapters, I kinda like it as a one-shot.

  
  
Piper was walking around, wondering where she could find the one single Hades demigod (Hazel was Pluto’s daughter after all). She didn’t know Nico very well, but her boyfriend did, he always spoke so well of Nico and because of it she always thought it a pity that he never stuck around long whenever his and Jason’s duo became a trio.

But Jason had asked her to look for him; ‘ _He’s not well’_ , Jason had said ‘ _And he won’t tell me why, he’s avoiding me. Could you convince him to come to me?_ ’ She didn’t like the way Jason suggested that she charmspoke Nico into thinking that talking to Jason about his feelings was a marvellous idea.  
But she couldn’t say no to those sky blue puppy eyes. Well, she would try to convince the gloomy boy herself first, before even going close to trying to use her mojo.

Maybe that’s what Nico needed? Somebody who didn’t know him so well; Piper was good at emotional stuff. She wasn’t a rational person, no, she was impulsive and passionate! Maybe Nico needed to let his pent up feelings out to somebody who could handle it? Jason would just be worried and sad (a tad bit overbearing) that might make Nico be afraid of telling him things, feeling guilty.  
But what did she know? She didn’t know the guy.

Piper saw the familiar silhouette of Nico di Angelo by the rocks near the strawberry fields. He sat there, knees curled up for his folded arms to rest upon. Nico wore his usual aviator jacket, Hazel had fixed his old one up and it was full of subtle stitches, Hazel proved quite skilled with the needle – it was hardly visible. His hair swayed slowly in the summer breeze and his gaze was lost in the distance, like he was just another rock on that pile he sat on… old and forgotten in time.

Piper thought it was a sad thing that somebody so young had to grow up so fast. Sure, they all had been through things, but Nico had been through some of the worst. Like Tartarus, at least Percy and Annabeth had each other – Nico had nobody at all. Jason had told her that Nico could feel lonely sometimes, even if he acted like he enjoyed it. Again; Piper didn’t know him at all, and for all she knew Nico seemed to avoid people for the main reason that he preferred to be alone. But seeing him there now on the rock, all by himself… She got a big sore ball of motherly worry for him; that is _not_ somebody who wants or should be alone as much as they were.

She made herself heard by making noises in the grass behind him. For a moment, his hazed gaze broke away from the distance and his dark eyes turned to her direction; like a black cat taking notice of humans disturbing their peace. Piper was slightly thrown off by it, thinking maybe she shouldn’t disturb him. But she had promised Jason.

“Hi there, what are you doing here all by yourself?” She gave him a winning smile, a friendly one.  
He just looked at her for a couple of seconds before his eyes returned to the vast fields of strawberries. Some satyr dropped his basket and groaned.  
“Nothing, just thinking.” He replied, his voice wasn’t hostile, but not inviting either. It sounded so… tired.  
“Oh..” Piper said quietly and took a seat on one of the rocks, giving Nico some space. “What are you thinking about?”

Nico glanced at her again, like he was trying to figure out why she was suddenly so interested in him.  
“Things.” Nico said, not wanting to be specific.  
“Wow, that’s not vague at all.” She joked, grinning. Nico didn’t look at her or laugh. Her smile fell into a nervous slope. “So..” She continued. “I’m-“  
“Jason sent you, didn’t he.” He said, now figuring out why Piper was there. Why else would she talk to him? He was wonderboy’s best friend. She felt a pang of guilt.

“Well… yes, but.. I mean.. er..”  
“If he thinks I’m avoiding him, I am.”  
“Why..?”  
He rubbed his pinkie at a hole in his jeans on the knee. “Because he worries too much and I don’t feel like talking to him about it.”  
“…Oh? Why not? He really cares about you.”  
“Yeah well, I’m grateful and all, but he can’t fix everything that’s wrong with me. If I talk to him, he’s going to try fixing it, and he can’t fix it. What’s the point in talking about things that won’t change anyway? He’s hopeless.”

Piper frowned. “Wrong with you?” curious now, she asked further “What’s wrong with you?”  
He gave her a ‘ _really?_ ’ stare, the amount of sarcasm in the look he gave her was almost painful. Like; _‘What’s not wrong with me would be a shorter list’_.

“Humour me.” She said, burying her heels into the soft ground. He gave it some thought; Piper figured he was testing her patience, but they sat there for two whole minutes, letting it hang in the air until Nico answered on his own accord. She wasn’t going to push him, pushing him only seemed to push him _away_ instead of _in_.

“Well..” He started. “There are certain things that… aren’t right.”  
“What things?” She asked carefully, he tensed. “I won’t pry though. We can change topic if you want.” She instantly added, and Nico relaxed only slightly. It was silent again, but Piper was surprised to find how it wasn’t award at all. It was a comfortable silence. Nico played with his skull ring.

“Oh, nice ring. Where did you get it?” She smiled warmly, he looked a bit ashamed and hid it with his hand.  
“Oh just.. I got it from pops.”  
“Hades.” Piper hummed. “You got a good contact with him, yeah?”  
Nico shrugged. “A bit, more than other demigods talk to their godly parent, I suppose.”  
“Must be nice, I mean, to talk to your godly parent.”  
“Must be nice to talk to your mortal parent, too.” He said.  
Piper bit her lip. “Right, sorry.”

“it’s alright, I was just saying. I wasn’t trying to make you feel bad. Just… give you a perspective.” He looked at her, she looked at him. “You got your dad, Piper, and your mum.” She looked at him, letting him speak. “You got Jason, and all your half siblings in the Aphrodite cabin, heck, all the Venus kids in camp Jupiter too. You got really close friends; Annabeth, Leo, Hazel.. Frank, Percy, Reyna.. Coach Hedge..” He paused.  
“You forgot one.” She smiled, and he looked back at her, a confused expression on his face. “You, silly. You’re my friend too!”

The blush on Nico’s pale cheeks was endearing to see. He stared at her like he wasn’t sure what to do with that, he retreated into his jacket like a turtle into its shell.

“Yeah, well, I mean… I was just…” He flustered.  
“It’s alright. But y’know, you _are_ my friend too. I Know we don’t hang out a lot, you always leave when I come around, but… I would like to get to know you better.”  
He gave her a glance, and then looked down at his hands again, playing with his skull ring; twisting it back and forth.  
Quiet again. Piper figured that happened a lot with Nico, just this nice comfortable silence. It didn’t feel forced or awkward. Maybe it was her Aphrodite mojo in play, she felt like she clicked with the guy even though she was quite a colourful person and Nico was mostly in shades of depressive gray.

“I was thinking…” He said finally. “About where I’m from.”  
“Oh, Italy?”  
“No, um, I suppose WHEN I’m from would be more accurate.”  
“ooohh, yeah, I heard about that from Hazel.. You guys aren’t from this time are you?”  
Nico shook his head. “I’m from the 1940s, Hazel’s from the 1930s.”  
“Ah.. What about it? What were you thinking of?”  
“I.. talked to Hazel about this, in some ways she feels the same as I. But because she actually died back then, she’s more at peace with the idea that she no longer lives in that period. She died when it was her time, in an era she was born in. She was, er, reborn, if you will.. in this era.”

Piper looked at her dirty boots. “And you weren’t.”  
He shook his head. “No… I didn’t die, I never…. Left my time. I suppose it’s a kind of melancholy? What life should I have been living? What people could I have been fated to meet? Would Bianca still have lived? Would I have known of Hazel and prevented her death? Was there people I was meant to be friends with…? There’s… This new era, it’s not for me. I know I have lived ten years in the 1940s, and five years here in this era.. Perhaps in ten more years, I won’t feel like this anymore. But right now, I feel like I’m out of my time. Like I’m not supposed to be here, like I’m not supposed to….” He stopped himself. And his gaze turned into that shallow, empty and dark, long-distance stare again.

Piper felt a lump in her throat. “No I.. think I can relate.”  
“How? You’re not from-“  
“No,” she interrupted. “Perhaps not. But I’m native American, a Cherokee… we, well, most of us- a lot of us… we feel disconnected. Like we’ve lost something important, our culture, who we are, it’s been replaced. The land we walk, what roads was once here? What was sacred to us? What were the many gods and stories we had? We only remember a small fragment of it that’s been managed, secretly, passed down in generations. The very earth we walk on, it used to be ours… it used to mean something. It’s like, er, dad said it’s like looking at an old gravestone, and the words has been forged away and ruined so you can’t read who’s laying buried there.”

Nico looked at her, blinking. “yeah, like that.”  
Piper looked at him. “So we got something in common. Sometimes, I feel like something’s amiss, like a big part of myself isn’t there, y’know?”  
“Yeah..”  
“And I get so frustrated! It’s sooo annoying. And I just, I just! I just build up this steam sometimes! And I kick a rock!”  
The son of hades scoffed. “Why would you kick a rock?”  
“I don’t know, kicking Gaia feels nice; Even if she’s sleeping.”  
Nico laughed, and Piper lit up. She never heard him laugh, but it was such a nice sound.

“Hey,” she said.  
“Mh..?”  
“Feeling any better?”  
He blinked, “yeah, I guess I do..”  
“That’s good.” She grinned. “Then maybe Jason won’t bother you so much now.”  
He laughed again. Piper enjoyed being able to make Nico di Angelo laugh; he seemed a lot less scary now. Leo had told her Nico laughed like a mad person, but to be honest? She didn’t think so. He looked more like a laughing relieved a weight from his shoulders.  
She laughed with him.  
  
“He he… Um.. Thank you.” He said shyly.  
“Hm? Oh, no, don’t mention it. You’re my friend, you can talk to me.”  
“Then, likewise.”  
“huh?”  
“If we’re friends, then… Likewise. You can talk to me too. About….” He tried to think of the right word.

“Melancholy?” She suggested.  
“Melancholy.” He confirmed. “And other things, if you… ever feel like you can’t talk to Jason or Annabeth or, um..”  
She smiled. “Thank you Nico, I’d like that.” It was adorable how flustered and awkward he got. “And you too, to me, I mean - Talk to me about things.”  
“You should be a counsellor. As in a therapist, not.. I mean you’re already head counsellor at your cabin.”  
“Aw chucks, thanks Nico. I never thought of that as a profession.”  
“Well, you should, you’re very good at talking to people… Even without the charmspeak.”

The way he had added ‘charmspeak’ made her turn her eyes to him. He was facing her too. It wasn’t a question if she had used it on him; it was more a recognition that he was aware that she _hadn’t_ used it on him. And that he was thankful, and respected her ability to be a caring gentle person.  
She blushed.

“Thanks. You too.”  
“Me?”  
“Yeah, you’re comfortable to be around, and you’re a good listener.”  
“I’m just quiet, it’s hardly helpful.”  
“You give good advice too. Like earlier? I’m really putting perspective on my relationship with dad, I didn't consider that I was lucky to have him.” She paused, still eyes locked with his. “You’re a good friend Nico. We should do this more often.”  
“….” He just nodded. “Yeah, if you want to.”  
“Great! How about tomorrow? I’m getting the gang together and I want you to be there.”  
“What’s the occasion?”  
“Nothing special, I just want us all together, y’know? I was thinking my dad could come pick us up, we’d go some-place fun! Just the nine of us!”  
“Nine? The prophecy was seven-“  
“We were NINE heroes. You and Reyna were just as important. And coach, but he’s busy tomorrow.”

Nico smiled. Piper smiled.  
“Sooo, you coming or not? The arrival is kind of a surprise so I can’t spoil it for you.”  
“Alright, alright, I will be a sport, I'm in.”  
She chuckled. “Be a sport? What are you, 50—er—“ She mentally slapped herself.  
But Nico chuckled. “Yeah, more like 80 something, I think.”  
Piper sighed with relief and chuckled with him.  
“I know, I know, Jason told me I use slang people don’t use anymore, but I don’t want to unlearn them. Makes me feel more right, you know?”  
“I totally get it.”

They smiled, a quiet understanding.

“And, just so you know Nico..” She added, he tilted his head towards her. “You’re not in the wrong time. You are just in the right place, in the right time where you’re supposed to be. And we are the friends you were fated to meet. Or, at least we could be if you let us…. I would like to.”  
The dark void in his eyes filled up with something warm and nice, something hopeful.

Nico was just going to say when Jason’s voice broke the air.

“NICO! THERE YOU ARE- and.. AND PIPER TOO!”  
“Here comes mother worry.” Nico joked, Piper giggled.  
“That’s the way I like him.”  
“Good, because I don’t think they are made in any other way.”

Jason landed by them, apparently he’s been flying all over camp looking for Nico.  
“There you are, Nico… I understand if you’re-“  
“It is okay.” He stood up. “I talked to Piper about it, I feel a bit better now.”  
“Me too.” Piper stood up, giving Nico a wink.¨

Jason looked between them. “uh, oh, well, that is… that is great!” He wrapped his arms around them both, pulling them into a big doofy hug. “I’m so happy.” If he had been a dog, his tail would be wagging insanely.

Nico patted Jason’s back, in that stroppy way he always did in hugs that weren’t from Hazel. And Piper just squeezed him, wrapping an arm behind Nico and squeezed him in more.  
“I’m happy too.” She said.  
“….” Nico didn't say anything, but the other two demigods could figure it anyway. ‘ _me too._ ’  
  
  



End file.
